The present invention relates to a control program and an image forming apparatus, and specifically relates to a control program to be executed in an apparatus for instructing an image forming apparatus, which is provided with a layout function and a register mark printing function, to implement an printing operation and an image forming apparatus that performs the printing operation according to instructions generated by the control program concerned.
In recent years, there has been proliferated such an image forming apparatus that is provided with a function for arranging a plurality of page images onto a single paper sheet (hereinafter, referred to as a page arranging function) and another function for printing register marks, which serve as reference lines for conducting a cutting operation, a folding operation and a stitch stopping operation, (hereinafter, referred to as a register mark printing function). The abovementioned functions are settable from the panel provided in the image forming apparatus concerned.
With respect to such the image forming apparatus that is provided with the page arranging function and the register mark printing function, for instance, Tokkai 2007-272780 (Japanese Patent Application Laid-Open Publication) has set forth such the print data generating apparatus that conduct the consecutive processes of: accepting the operations for determining and setting whether or not the positional controlling operation of the cutting marks in regard to images, represented by the document data to be printed, should be conducted; judging the kind of the page arrangement setting of the document data concerned; in response to the setting for conducting the positional controlling operation, determining the positions of the cutting marks on the paper sheet on which the images represented by the document data to be printed are arranged, based on the judged result; and in order to generate the print data according to the positions of the cutting marks, generating the depiction data representing the cutting marks concerned, so as to generate the print data from the document data concerned.
In this connection, as a mode of the page arranging operation, either a page arranging operation to be conducted on the premise that a bunch of paper sheets are folded, and then, bound (for instance, a seamless binding, a booklet binding, etc.), or another page arranging operation to be conducted on the premise that a paper sheet is not folded (for instance, a double speed, a 2in1 integration, a 2repeat, rotation 2repeat, etc.) can be cited.
In regard to the former case, since the page arranging operation is conducted on the premise that a bunch of paper sheets are folded, it is unnecessary to print the register marks onto both sides of each of the paper sheets. Further, if there exists a misregistration between the printing position of the register mark printed on the obverse side of the paper sheet concerned and that printed on the reverse side of the same paper sheet, the register mark shifted from the folded line becomes easily noticeable, the appearance of the printed product would be considerably deteriorated. Accordingly, in the former printing mode, it is preferable that the register mark is printed for every sheet (for every paper sheet).
On the other hand, in the latter case or in such the case that the page arranging function is not established, since the page arranging operation is conducted on the premise that a bunch of paper sheets are not folded, it is convenient to print the register marks onto each of the pages. Further, even if there exists a misregistration between the printing position of the register mark printed on the obverse side of the paper sheet concerned and that printed on the reverse side of the same paper sheet, the appearance of the printed product is hardly deteriorated. Accordingly, in the printing mode as abovementioned, it is preferable that the register mark is printed for every page.
However, in the conventional image forming apparatus, since the operation for setting the page arranging function and the other operation for setting the register mark printing function are not correlated with each other, the user should establish the printing condition of the register mark corresponding to the page arranging mode (whether the register mark is printed for every sheet or for every page). Accordingly, there has been such a problem that the operations for setting the register mark printing function are cumbersome for the user.
In addition to the above, according to the conventional configuration, since it is possible for the user to establish the setting conditions so as to print the register marks for every sheet, even when the user selects such the page arranging operation that is to be conducted on the premise that a paper sheet is not folded or when the user has not established the register mark printing function, there has been such another problem that it is impossible to prevent inappropriate settings.